On Target

The building of Butterworth

Australia’s strategic commitment to South-East Asia

The last two On Target columns traced the decade-long evolution of an expanding Australian commitment to South-East Asia commencing with the outbreak of the Malayan Emergency in 1948, the signing of the ‘Manila Pact’ which established the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) in September 1954, and the establishment the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve, a permanent military force aimed at countering external communist aggression against countries in South-East Asia, especially threats against the former British colonial territories of Malaya and Singapore.

The culmination of these developments saw, by 1959, 50 per cent of Australia’s operational fighter force (two CAC Sabre squadrons) and 33 per cent of Australia’s operational bomber force (one squadron of Canberra bombers with an embedded support flight of Dakota transports) stationed permanently at RAAF Base Butterworth, a commitment of around 1,500 RAAF personnel, plus their families. The scale of this commitment is even more imposing when considering the effort and investment needed, by Australia, to transform a modest RAF airfield into a modern RAAF air base capable of sustaining a sizeable operational air force.